ReaderkidZ has asked my publisher to give away a copy of Water Sings Blue in connection with their posts, and the folks at Chronicle have kindly agreed. However, my site is better equipped to host a giveaway, so we're doing it here.Since we're celebrating poetry this month, you can qualify for the giveaway by writing a haiku about an ocean animal or some other maritime topic (like boats) and leaving it in the comments. The winner's name will be drawn and announced at the end of April. Please also make sure you are easy to get in touch with by leaving contact info in your comment or at least by checking back.

I wanted to tell you too that I just loaned your Hans My Hedgehog to a young girl at my school that is studying all things about hedgehogs. She was thrilled to see a book all about one hedgehog! Here's my haiku:

ocean sweeps the edge I jump, run - play keep away Wait for wet 'till tomorrow

I wouldn't call myself a poet either, but I would love to win the book. This was inspired by my fourth graders- I shared a news article one day a couple of weeks ago, about two people journeying to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, and it's become an obsession.

One thing that fascinates me about the ocean is its versatility - for example the colour transition when you get deeper into it, which almost magically mirrors the changing colours from sky to deep space. So my haiku is about this 'blue rainbow' in the ocean:

Turquoise twinkle swash,Rolling darker indigo -What colour is deep?

I'm really looking forward to laying my hands on your book - one way or another! ;-)

ABOUT ME

I am madly in love with children's books and want to get great books into the hands of kids who will love them, too. Books are like magnifying glasses, intensifying the wonders of people and their imaginations and everything in the world from spiders to shoelaces. Books are a unique sort of conversation. I write them, too, mostly MG fantasy, but sometimes poetry and picture books. Thank you, Johanes Gutenberg!